Pune Collector Ram said approximately 80,000 migrant workers have been sent from Pune district to their respective states since movement was allowed.

Divisional Commissioner Mhaisekar pointed out that though the number of cases in Pune district has increased to over 4,000, only 1,903 of these were active cases.

PUNE (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporations (PCMC) will revise the containment zones in their respective jurisdictions as per the guidelines issued by the Centre for the fourth phase of the lockdown, District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said on Monday. While very little will change in life outside containment zones in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad in the fourth phase of the lockdown, as compared to the third phase, the civid bodies of the two cities will add or remove areas under containment zones, based on the number of Covid-19 cases, said Ram.

The district collector, along with Pune Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar and Pune Police Commissioner K Venkatesham, addressed a virtual press conference on Monday to apprise local residents about changes in lockdown norms in the fourth phase.

“Urban areas of Pune district are going to remain in the red zone and there’s not much change on that front. However, as far as ‘containment zones’ are concerned, there could be some new addition of areas where a surge in Covid-19 cases has been seen, and subtraction of areas where no new cases have been detected in recent weeks. This will be decided soon by the municipal commissioners of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad…,” said Ram.

Divisional Commissioner Mhaisekar pointed out that though the number of cases in Pune district has increased to over 4,000, only 1,903 of these were active cases. “In 2,114 cases, the patients have recovered from the infection and have also been discharged…,” said Mhaisekar. “So at the moment, of the total count, only 46 per cent are active cases,” he said.

Sharing information on migration to and from Pune district, he said a train carrying 325 UPSC aspirants from Maharashtra, who were stuck in New Delhi, reached Pune early on Monday. All the students were screened for symptoms and were later sent to their home districts.

“Of these, 97 were from Pune district, who were sent home in PMPML buses or in private vehicles with their parents,” said Mhaisekar. All the students have to remain in home quarantine for 14 days. He said nearly 1,208 travellers from Amritsar had also arrived in Sangli recently.

“Apart from this, 471 Indians who were travelling abroad have also returned to various districts in Pune Division, of which 372 are from Pune district. They came from Singapore, Dhaka, New York, London and Egypt,” said Mhaisekar.

Pune Collector Ram said approximately 80,000 migrant workers have been sent from Pune district to their respective states since movement was allowed. Of these, 37,712 migrants used 31 Shramik Special Trains and about 33,000 went in buses. “There are about 12,000 others who used private buses with the permission of authorities,” said Ram.

He said the state government’s scheme of paying the migrant workers’ fare in Shramik Special trains will continue till May 31.